TV Cream

Dr Who

Doctorin’ the middle eight

Obviously the best bit of each weekly Digi-Cream Times mailout is the last line, but this week’s was – hopefully – particularly satisfying, linking as it did to this stunning re-imagining of Ron Grainer’s second finest hour after Tales Of The Unexpected (Winebar Mix).

Said song hails from a site devoted to collecting amateur makeovers of the Dr Who theme, but given there are hundreds on there, and given they’re mostly crap, taking pot luck isn’t an advisable experience. Here, then, are five of the best to save you the bother of unexpectedly downloading HellFire Hard Trance feat. The Cybermen.

1) Manhattan Transfer had nothing on this. One bloke scats, croons and duddle-de-dums his way through a multi-voiced tonsil-taxing triumph.

2) Someone bashing it out on one of those plinky-plonky pianos of the kind you only get in school halls and on Winifred Atwell records. With a TARDIS sound effect for good measure. Ten times more convincing than your average David Tennant episode, that’s for sure.

3) The Jar Humphreys Dr Who Dub Explosion mix. Throw your best skanking shapes to this seriously wonderful bit of demented electronic reggae, of the kind Macca would probably have turned out over a sesame seed bap and a funny cigarette.

4) A toe-tapping cha-cha-cha medley combining your finest Palm Court Orchestra frugging, the old 1960s rubbish theme, and a guest appearance from Professor Who himself. “One day, yes, one day, y-y-yes one day…I shall come back!”

5) A musical joke. With a certain familiar festive tune creeping in at the end.

Nominations for the best one?

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Dr Walpurgis

    January 20, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    The reggae one (#3) is brilliant!

  2. John

    January 20, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    The a capella one. But is that a man or a woman?!

  3. Joe T

    January 20, 2008 at 8:08 pm

    Seconded for the reggae. It’s bloody fantastic.

  4. Ian Jones

    January 21, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    The a capella one is definitely a man. The accompanying blurb on the website talks about “varispeeding” and “pitch control” and similar gobbledegook.

  5. Billy Hartnell

    January 21, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    Cha-cha-cha. Ole!

  6. Jack Kibble-White

    January 22, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    That first one is great, and certainly proves once and for all that TV Cream are no Laurie Anderson haters.

  7. skybluewolf

    January 25, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    I’ve got a 12″ EP with three different versions of the Dr.Who theme. Though I’d have to dig it out and check if they’re the same as the ones already mentioned.

    I’m pretty sure it dates from the mid to late eighties.

  8. Anonymous

    January 25, 2008 at 7:27 pm

    That reggae one is the mutts nutts

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